What Is A GIF File? How to Use GIF?

Now, GIFs are an essential tool of social media marketing because they are immediately eye-catching and easily shareable across multiple social networks. GIFs have become the default tool of web humor, alongside memes and viral videos. GIFs can show off your personality and add value to your brand.

But, what is a GIF? How to use them?

What Is A GIF?

GIF (pronounced “gif” or “jiff”) is just a bitmap image format. GIF format can be used to make still images, and even be used to create animated images. In other words, GIFs are a series of images or soundless video. GIFs will loop continuously and doesn’t require anyone to press play. Some people think this repetition like the beat of a song.

GIF format was developed by a team at the online services provider CompuServe in 1987, and it was updated in 1989. Thus, GIF predates the World Wide Web by two years, but GIF is still a large part of internet culture.

GIF has wide support and portability between many applications and operating systems, thus GIF format has come into widespread usage on the World Wide Web.

GIF supports up to 8 bits per pixel for each image, and allows a separate palette of up to 256 colors for each frame.

GIFs are useful for communicating jokes, emotions, and ideas, making GIFs very popular like  memes.

Related article: make a meme

Why GIFs Are so Popular

There are 3 main reasons explain why GIFs are so popular:

1. All browsers animated GIFs.
2. HTML didn’t support video before HTML5 launched in 2014. In other words, it was easier o share GIFs than actual videos.
3. GIFs are easy to make. Related article: make GIF.

Last but not least, GIFs are widely used on social media.

GIF is a perfect way to create a close relationship with audience. GIF provides a perfect snack for the attention span of today’s consumers because it is 2-5 seconds in length, perfectly grabbing the eight-seconds of attention you are given.

Besides, GIFs can add value to your business for the following reasons:

1. Easily shareable.
2. Display your fun side.
3. Show that you’re paying attention to trends.
4. Add more context or emotion in a much shorter message.

How to Use GIFs

Using GIFs, you can show off your products, gamify your posts, provide visual instructions, provide a sneak peek of a new product, share content that makes you smile, etc. But, how to use GIFs?

You can use GIFs in 2 steps.

1. Select the GIF that’s appropriate for the situation.
2. Send it.

How to Make a GIF?

It is very easy to make a GIF. You can make a GIF with multiple pictures, and make a GIF with video. You even can convert video to GIF.

MiniTool MovieMaker, a free video editing software, is recommended here because of its simple interface as well as powerful functions. This free video editing software without watermark not only can make your GIF from videos or pictures but also allows you to convert video to GIF.

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